Most Christians I meet talk about being “born again”. Often, this is a defining moment in their lives that separates two distinct time frames. You will hear them say, “Before I was saved…”, and “Since I’ve been saved…” Both of these things revolve around this idea of being born again.
I was brought up a Mormon, so this “born again” doctrine has simply never been part of my mindset, which is possibly why I can look at John 3 and see an entirely different set of facts that flies in the face of the conventional dogma being bandied about as fact in most contemporary United States Christian denominations.
What does “Born Again” mean?
John 3:1 – 8:
1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
This doesn’t seem terribly strange to anyone that has been brought up with this, but let’s examine what the English version says first.
In English, born again means to be born a second time, just as it would have meant in the language Jesus would have been speaking to a Pharisee of the time. Often this statement is taken literally in English, depending on the denomination of Christian that is apologising for it. Other denominations realise that the passage was originally written in Greek, and in Greek, being born again can also mean to be born from above. This double meaning makes sense in context, and is most likely what should have happened.
Now, I didn’t start this to bring up the fact that Jesus probably didn’t say this, since Nicodemus would have little reason to question Jesus if he had said “born from above” in the language he should have been speaking, as there would be no double entendre to confuse him unless they were speaking Greek. Instead, I wanted to bring up the fact that what people consider to be “born again” simply can’t be what Jesus was talking about.
Jesus speaks about being born of the water and of the spirit. Some apologists, depending again on denomination, say that this is being born from the womb, referring to the amniotic fluid that surrounds a baby. This can probably be dismissed though for two reasons. First, it doesn’t allow for people born in “dry birth” to see the kingdom, and second, it doesn’t account for Jesus being baptised himself.
Most contemporary Christians tend to believe that being born of the water is being baptised, and being born of the spirit, being born from above, or being born again means that you accept Jesus in some denominations. In others, it means to be confirmed. I don’t think that either of these interpretations is correct for a couple very important reasons.
Jesus tended to be someone that led by example. He was baptised, which should have not been necessary for a god child. This suggests that baptism must be necessary for some reason. Where was the example of Jesus being born of the spirit though. Did Jesus have to accept himself as his own savior? Did Jesus ever get confirmed? Neither of these things happened, so how can we get a clue of what Jesus was talking about?
If you look at verses 5-8. No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit…The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it’s going. So it is with EVERYONE born of the spirit.
Okay, let’s take a look at this. Flesh and blood can’t enter the kingdom of God according to 1 Corinthians 15. That means that as long as you are alive, you could never inherit the kingdom of God. Also, have you ever met someone that you can’t tell where they come from or where they are going? This might be true of a spirit, but never of a flesh and blood human being. These two things together make a very strong case that you must first die before you can be born from above.
If we revisit the fact that Jesus never had to accept himself as his personal saviour, and the only thing he could have possibly done after being baptised that would constitute being born of the spirit was when he died, the conclusion is pretty much made for us.
Conclusion
All of this seems rather strange to those that have been indoctrinated into this dogma, but I see no reason that it should be dismissed. It seems much more logical that Jesus was talking about death than he was talking about accepting him, or being confirmed.
That also means that it is much more likely that all these people that profess to be born again have it wrong, and have a long way to go before they can fulfil the true requirement, which is death.